A journey of self-discovery and bringing your whole self to all that you do.

His Healing Hand on Me

February 20th, 2013 Coré Cotton

As a teenager and into my young adult life, I suffered from terrible menstrual cramps. In my late thirties, doctors discovered that I had developed tumors so large that my uterus had expanded to the size of a three and half month pregnancy. Surgery was imminent. My doctor in Minnesota had recommended a hysterectomy, given the size Iof the tumors and the fact that I was in my mid-thirties with no definitive plans to have children. My family doctor in Illinois, however, was of a different mind. He did not want me to have a hysterectomy at my young age. Rather, he wanted to take the time to delicately remove the fibroids, and he would personally take charge of my care.

Because having this surgery in Illinois would have constituted an out-of-network procedure for insurance purposes, I would incur significant out-of-pocket medical expenses. My surgeon graciously waived his physician’s fee so that I could come back to Illinois and not have to contend with that fee compounded with the hospital and associated fees. It was settled. In February of the new millennium, just a few days shy of my thirty-sixth birthday, I would take a leave of absence from work for surgery and recuperation.

Now, I can be somewhat of a jokester, particularly when nervous. And nervous I was. I remember laying on the gurney and looking up at the doctor saying, “Now you did have breakfast this morning, right?” and “You’re not mad at me about anything, are you?” I wanted to make sure that all minds were clear before going under the knife. Of course, my doctor had a sense of humor that rivaled mine. I had heard stories of the outrageous things people said and did while under anesthesia and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t apart of that statistic. Plus, I had a few secrets I was toting in my subconscious and this was NO time to be under the influence of any truth serums. So, I asked my wise guy doctor, “Did I embarrass myself while under anesthesia.” To which, Doc replied, “Oh no. Other than dancing naked on the table for all the interns to see, you were just fine.” We both shared a laugh and I was relieved. I was further relieved that Doc was able to operate without significant cutting on my abdomen. Also, I was blessed that I was able to stay with my mom, who dutifully cared for me, making sure I followed Doc’s orders and making and bringing my daily meals. Up and down the stairs she went so that I could rest as required. God had His hand on me.

Five years later, I started to notice swelling in my hands. Initially, I hadn’t thought much of the swelling. It was a hot summer and the swelling would come and go, so I chalked up the swelling to the heat. I was in the process of interviewing for a newly created Assistant General Counsel position in the Law Department at Wells Fargo and I had one interview left with the HR Director in San Francisco. Before leaving for the interview, I went to visit my BFF Lewis at her new home in Shaker Heights, Ohio. I had noticed that my hands were swelling more and more such that I had to remove my wedding rings because they would no longer fit. I was concerned, so I went to see my primary doctor back home in Illinois. A few days later, I received a phone call from the doctor’s office informing me that I was being referred to an oncologist. An oncologist? I was referred to the oncologist because of abnormalities in my white and red blood cell counts, which prompted some concern that I might have leukemia.

This was unsettling news to me, but I prayed and reached out to my prayer circle of family and friends. I went to my appointment with the oncologist with my husband Dale by my side. Testing, waiting, testing, waiting. The oncologist came back with his report. “You definitely do not have cancer,” he said definitively. We were all so elated at this wonderful news. Still, I had no answers to what was causing these strange symptoms in my body. But, on with life I went.

I landed the promotion to Assistant General Counsel. This promotion required that I relocate to Minnesota and it was there that I found a rheumatologist who, after nearly two years of my struggles with gastrointestinal issues, swelling in my hands and face and fatigue, would finally diagnose my condition. I had developed mixed connective tissue disorder (I don’t like the term “disease”), a rare autoimmune disorder symptomatic of many different autoimmune diseases such as lupus, sclera derma, Raynaud’s syndrome, and the like. In fact, another autoimmune specialist in the Chicago area had ruled out sclera derma given that my skin did not appear to be thickening and my physical appearance was not changing. I would later understand what the autoimmune specialist was talking about as I began to notice the shape of my face changing and when my ring size went from a six and a half to a nine. I was mortified to have to resize my rings — three times– to accommodate the swelling in my hands.

Over the next few years, I would see more and more changes. My complexion would sometimes change right before a person’s eyes. During one of Mom’s visits to my home in Minnesota, she and I were in her favorite bedroom talking. I noticed a frightened look on her face and I immediately knew my face was changing. I excused myself for bed and Mom cried. I was used to this kind of thing happening to me, but I hated it. (If you look at the CD covers from each of the three volumes of my “Timeless Music Series,” you can see differences in my facial features, even though the photos were taken within several months of each other.) I would get additional symptoms over time, including hyperpigmentation as well as hypopigmentation.

It was a depressing time for me. Sometimes I did not even want to look in the mirror. But I persevered. My music recordings, the Timeless Music Series and my one-woman show, “Timeless My Journey My Song (‘TMJMS’),” were my refuge, my healing. I truly believe God uses music to heal hearts, minds, bodies and spirits. I was lifted to a higher plane when I was writing music, arranging and recording music for the series and the show. I would go into a zone during TMJMS. I could feel people being touched and I was touched through the telling of my story as well as by the connection I could feel being made between the audience and me. God is good.

In 2011, I would get constipation and gas in my lower back so badly that I would get sick to the point of extreme nausea. Sometimes I would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace in my home to warm and soothe my body. I also would find myself stealing away to a quiet room at work to lay down my body for rest and reprieve. All came to a head in the latter part of the year when I began to get what I thought were symptoms of appendicitis. I did not want to go to the doctor because I was in the process of preparing for a TMJMS show for Well’s Fargo’s Diversity & Inclusion group. When I could no longer bear the pain, I reluctantly went to the doctor for tests. After a short round of telephone tag with my doctor, I left her a message asking to leave a detailed message on my cell phone so that I could get my news of appendicitis, address it and keep it moving. She did. “I think you have ovarian cancer,” she said tentatively. I was sitting in my office on the sixth floor of the Wells Fargo Tower and I stopped in my tracks. It was all so surreal. I replayed the doctor’s message on my iPhone. Had I heard her correctly? Ovarian cancer? I called her back immediately. “We don’t know for sure, but we need to get this looked at right away,” she said. “I need to do my show,” I told her. She knew that the TMJMS show was hugely important to me. I had communicated that fact when had seen me previously in her office for testing. At that time, we had anticipated that I might have appendicitis, but she had the foresight to do a pelvic exam and order a vaginal ultrasound. We scheduled follow-up blood work and a meeting with an oncologist for two weeks out. I wanted the doctor to confirm that I would not be at risk by pushing out the follow-up tests a couple weeks out. Not only did I need to do the TMJMS show, but also the Sounds of Blackness’ Night Before Christmas play that would follow less than a week afterwards.

Meanwhile, I had to tell my family, music team and a few close friends. Everyone around me was so supportive. I had a band of prayer warriors in my corner to compliment my own faith. Dale stayed in “let’s get ‘er done” mode. I could feel Mom literally trying to pull this test from her baby child. When I called my BFF Lewis as I released pint up tears, she immediately broke into prayer and proclaimed, “It is already done.” Lewis, my niece Lo and friend Trudy summoned their respective prayer circles and I mine.
My sisters and back up singers engulfed me with their positive energy and vowed to have the most incredible TMJMS show ever.

As I waited in the oncologist’s office (seemingly forever) for my follow-up results, my mind soared. Finally, the doctor returned and took me to a separate room to talk. I was stoic as was he. “At a minimum, you’ll have to have a hysterectomy. There’s definitely a mass there, which was detected by your ultrasound. The question is, what is that mass? We will not know that until we go in. On one end, it could be a benign tumor or endometriosis, which we can take care of through the hysterectomy. On the other end, it could be cancer, which we’ll attempt to remove and follow up with whatever we need to do to take care of this. We could leave the ovaries, but based on the status of the tissue based on testing, we don’t want to take the risk. How extensive the surgery will be will depend on what we find when we go in. I just need you to give me permission to take necessary steps, because once we go in, we’re not going to wake you up to talk about going back in to take care of whatever we need to take care of.” He had been direct, but assuring. “We’re gonna take care of this,” he said.

I was determined to put all this behind me and focus on TMJMS and the Christmas Play. When my team and I hit the stage at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis on December 15, 2012 (and, yes, we took Wells Fargo to the theater), we were unified and electrifying! Who would have known what physical pain and emotional strain I had endured. We started the show with me singing my version of Donny Hathaway’s “Song to You.” By the time I got to the second verse starting with “You taught me precious secrets of a truth withholding nothing. You came out in front when I was hiding.” I reached for my sisters and they responded in strong, full harmony “Wha haa Whoo.” I knew we were on our way. For weeks to come we heard rave reviews about the show and we developed some wonderful relationships because of it. One down.

The Sounds’ Christmas play at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on December 19 the next week was a smash as well. On my signature song, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” I challenged the audience and the cast asking “Can we have church?” and the house went up an in a spiritual uproar. We had a great show that nice and, like with TMJMS, the community talked about it for weeks on end. Mission accomplished.

With both shows successfully completed and things tidied up at work, including informing my manager about my plight, I was ready to start the New Year getting my medical house in order. My global prayer warriors were at work. And might I say how touched I was at the tremendous outpouring of support I received from my colleagues and team at Wells Fargo. Also, I received loads of well wishes from my many Facebook friends. I was so humbled by the huge amount of support I had around me. In the end, I climbed on top of all that support and rested easy in surgery while God worked through my medical team.

I would have surgery on January 9, 2012 and spend the next six weeks at home in recovery. Prior to being taken to the operating room, I was in my usual comedic form, joking with the nurses and anesthesiologist. Of course, when the anesthesia kicked in, my humor got a little crazier, if you let my husband and niece tell it. When I woke up, I discovered that I was a medical miracle. My tumor, which was benign, was successfully removed, though I had lost two units of blood in the process. I also had my appendices removed. In essence, the surgeon created more space inside me to get rid of the congestion. What my medical team found in the process, however, was unnerving, even for my surgeon, who had practiced medicine for 38 year. My uterus was somehow connected to my bladder and most of my nearby organs were misplaced. Some of the medical team had indicated that they had never seen anything quite like that before. My doctor simply informed me, “It was a mess.” He did not know how I had been functioning with my insides in turmoil. Almost immediately after surgery, my appearance began to change again. My old complexion started to return. My eyes brightened. The persistent pain in my lower back –gone! Now, whether the “mess” was somehow related to the myomectomy I had some twelve years earlier is a question that has lingered with me. What I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that God kept His hand on me. As my Mom can say, if the good Lord is kind enough to watch over the little sparrow, surely He will watch over me. Many experiences I have had in my life attests to this very fact and I, my friends, am enjoying the journey.

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Yours Truly celebrated great birthday on March 2. I started at the stroke of midnight with gifts from my wish list (piano lessons with The Piano Guy and a bonus gift). The next morning I had a homemade breakfast from my hubby. I then proceeded to a full day at my favorite Spa courtesy of my BFF, followed by a champagne brunch with Hubby. After a little rest, Hubby took me for a delicious meal at my favorite restaurant and proclaimed that it was my birthday for entire weekend (as if I needed that permission:-). Of course, there were Happy Birthday greetings, songs and well wishes from my family, close friends and Facebook friends. As if that weren't enough, my Wells Fargo team continued the celebration with much fan fare and food. And I hear there's more to come! What will I do on my next birthday, which will be a landmark one! Thanks to all my loved ones. It feels good to be loved. God is good!
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The Cotton Family and Trinity Universal Center will be celebrating the great Dr. M. Jeanne Dolphus Cotton's 81st birthday on Valentine's Day weekend! Family from around the world will begin assembling in the Chicago area on Friday, February 15 for weekend festivities full of food, fun and fellowship. Trinity will host special services during Trinity's Fellowship Hour at 1:00 pm at Unity Church on the North Shore, 3434 Central Avenue in Evanston, IL. This celebration promises to a fun and spirit-filled tribute. Happy Birthday to my mom, mentor and best friend! Love ya!!!

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Jannie Cotton, CEO of Professional Counseling Associates in Little Rock, Arkansas, has been chosen to receive the Irma Hunter Brown Women’s Leadership Award from the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus.
She will be awarded this honor at the King-Kennedy Dinner on Tuesday evening of February 19th, 2013.

According to the Arkansas Democratic Black Caucus website,
the Irma Hunter Brown Women’s Leadership Award is presented to a woman of color who fights to make sure that gender bias is overcome by competence, commitment and courage.

Congratulations Jannie!!!!
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Yours Truly was selected to participate in the 2013-2014 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity Fellows Program. As a participant in the program, I will have exposure to General Counsel and Managing Partners and an opportunity to network with key leaders in the legal field. The program curriculum will focus on the following competencies: relationship building, transformational leadership and professional branding. The program will commence in March 2013 and conclude in Q1 2014. Stay tune for highlights from this incredible opportunity!